Green Goes With Everything
by TimeHappens
Summary: One shots of people at CHB who died/dying. R&R, please.
1. Domino Effect

She died, leaving nothing behind expect for the memories. Everything that was hers was taken, every breath she'd took was stolen, every beat of her heart was stopped. She left only the sweet sound of her voice lingering in the wind.

"She- She can't be dead." Travis Stoll sobbed, his head in his hands, tears falling through the cracks in his fingers; Travis and her had been dating for a year.

"It's okay, bro; she's in a better place… With Silena and Beckondorf." Connor patted his brother's back, trying to keep strong, but we all knew he was feeling the same exact pain.

"She can't be dead! No, she's just… She's just…" Travis cried miserably and all I could do is look at him with sadness in my heart.

"She left something behind with us, Travis; she left behind the memories… She left me this, before she…." I whispered, pulling a wrinkled note out of my pocket, unfolding it with care as if it were a new born child. I read the words slowly to myself:

_Tell Travis I love him. Tell him he was my everything and that he deserves the best girl there is. Tell him I'll be waiting for him in Elysium. Tell him he can't give up. Tell him that he needs to move on and that I'm gone. Tell him that he can be whatever he wants. Tell him that he can't forget the promise. Tell him this for me, please, Marie. Please. _

I wearily held out my right hand and it was shaking. Connor reached for it slowly, but Travis' hand shot out to grab it before his brother could touch it. Connor looked perfectly fine with it, after his brother's loss, but I could also see the pain he had. We all sat in dead silence as we watched him read the note with eager eyes; it seemed like all of his dyslexia disappeared for this moment.

"She said she loved me." He whispered in shock, as more moisture tumbled down his cheeks. I knew how he felt with that; she never said I love you to him before. She wanted to take things slow because she knew how it felt to have a broken heart.

"That's awesome, Travis." Percy sighed sadly, despair filled in his expression, but he kept as strong as he could for Travis' sake.

"No! No! It's not "awesome" Percy! I lost her! I lost her because- because…." Travis yelled, and bolted out of the room. Connor trailed after him slowly, not wanting to get there too fast.

The five of us (Percy, myself, Annabeth, Thalia, and Treesa) sat in the room, hung up in the midst of the moment until someone walked in, yelling.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING JUST SITTING HERE?" Clarisse la Rue shouted at us as the room seemed to come to life again.

"YOU KNOW WE'RE DOING, STUPID WAR HEAD? **WE'RE** grieving the loss of a friend." I shrieked, walking up to her with every step seeming to go faster than possible.

"DON'T CALL ME STUPID WAR HEAD, YOU EMO GHOST KID!" She yelled back, her arm hooking around my neck but I shadow traveled to the other side of the room where Treesa sat before Clarisse could squeeze me too hard.

"Guys, stop it." Treesa mumbled, squeezing my left forearm with all her strength and a root started growing on my arm.

"Fine, I'm done." I sighed and fell to the floor with a weep.

"WHATEVER. I better see the five of you out of here in five minutes or you're all on kitchen duty." Clarisse growled as she stamped out they way all Ares' kids do.

"Who cares?" Percy mumbled as she exited, and we all shook our heads in agreement to his statement.

"I remember the first day I came. She was sitting with Travis on the beach and they were laughing and singing along to All Summer Long while the Hephaestus kids were setting up the fireworks. I've never seen two people happier in my life." I sighed, kicking the hardwood floor with my black converse.

"She was one of the happiest people to ever be alive." Annabeth concluded; these were the first words she'd spoken since we heard the news. Annabeth met her the first day she was at camp, Annabeth was seven, she was nine. They were best friends that year, Annabeth told me.

"It's official. Camp will never same without her." Thalia spoke for the time too, her eyes puffy from crying. We all nodded in agreement once more.

"We've gotta make a s-s-shroud." Treesa stuttered, tears scrambling down her red face, her brown hair a mess.

We'd scouted out to find wood, which was easy, with Treesa's help. We took so many bright and neon colors, you'd think we were hippies; purples, pinks, blues, yellows, reds, oranges, and most importantly, greens. Oh, green, it was her favorite color. She told me green went with every color there ever was; it went with black, pink, white, blue, brown, yellow, purple, orange, EVERYTHING. When we finished, the shroud ended up like this: light brown wood with splattered (bright) colors everywhere to show her scattered personality. Over that was Greek writing in all green that used words to describe her: positive, smart, loving, loyal, caring. Pretty much any nice word you could use to describe a person.

That night, after we ate the normal camp dinner, Chiron announced: "Campers! Tonight we have to burn the shroud of-" He was stopped short by the sound of music. Playing from the Hermes cabin was All Summer Long as loud as it would go, and everyone started to sing along, and tears formed in my eyes. This girl, this wonderful girl would never be forgotten. Katie Gardner, daughter of Demeter would never be forgotten.


	2. Death of a Brother

Travis Stoll was dead, and there was absolutely nothing Connor could do about it.

It happened like this:

We were all in the battle arena, learning a new disarming maneuver from Percy, when we all heard a loud scream come from across camp. I pushed through the crowd, even though I stood in the front of everyone because Percy was going to try the move on me next. I was being trailed by most of the Hermes cabin, the Ares cabin, and the Demeter cabin, including Percy, Annabeth, and Nico. Nico just shadow traveled and was already at the scene of the crime. Connor Stoll pushed through the crowd like his best friend was dying; it was worse than that. After stopping at the rim of the woods, in front of Zeus' fist, we saw the scene of the crime. Travis Stoll laid back against the rock, barely breathing, an arrow stabbed through the bottom of his left shoulder.

"Travis!" Connor cried, running towards his brother, but was stopped dead in his tracks by Nico, who appeared in front of him.

"No… We've gotta bring him to the infirmary." He pushed Connor out of the way as several Apollo campers picked the limp Travis into their arms, and hustled through the woods with lightning speed, with Percy, and Annabeth following.

"CAMPERS! Back to your activities!" Nico shouted to the campers, which were crying or looking terribly depressed, especially the Hermes campers. They all hustled off, as Connor sat on the ground, his head in his hands, bawling his eyes out.

"Connor, go to the infirmary. He doesn't have much longer." Nico looked concerned for the Hermes boy, who stood up shakily. Nico only knew that Travis had no more time because he could see his life fading.

"Hermes, help him… Please." Was all he prayed until he darted through the woods to go see his brother.

"What happened, Nico?" I asked with pain in my heart, my eyes watering, and my lips quivering.

"Katie died. He wanted to die with her. It's as simple as that. That's why I plan to never fall in love." He sighed. "They'll make Elysium…"

"He tried to shove an arrow through his heart." I said the obvious and Nico looked surprised.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you caught that."

"It's pretty easy to figure out, Ghosty."

"He only has ten minutes and he's dead… Must be so happy." He mumbled hopelessly.

"Can't you do something? You _are_ the son of Hades!" I thought aloud and he looked kind of pissed.

"I've tried. Hades doesn't take souls. He protects them… It's the fates who decide, and if you're lucky, Thanatos will take your soul…"

"Opposed to whom?"

"The Keres. The sisters of disease and slaughter." He said this a bit happily, like he was delighted to see some of this happen.

"Who took your sister then?" I retorted coldly and a death glare was sent towards me.

"She was taken by _our father._" He shot at me with a "I'm-going-to-kill-you" expression glued to his face.

"I'm sorry, that was rude… I didn't mean to…" I whispered, trying to take back what I said, but I couldn't.

"He's almost gone. Go see your brother; Izzy." Nico ignored my comment.

Yes, I will admit to the fact that Travis Stoll is my (half) brother. The only reason I refused to go see him before is because, well, I couldn't bear to see his life lost. He had so much to life for, even if others thought he was a crazy kleptomaniac. Travis was so much deeper than that; he had the smarts, the guts, and the wits to do whatever he pleased. He couldn't die just yet, but he was going to. Just because Katie Gardner gotten killed by a surprise hellhound attack.

"Gods, please don't take him now…" I prayed quietly as I dashed through the thick woods to go find my brother and make sure he would live. I finally made it to the infirmary which was surrounded by campers who were crying, leaning on each other, or standing there was hopelessness. I pushed the campers out of the way, running up to the building, turned the doorknob slowly and walked it to see something I wish would get out of my mind.

I saw two things and two things only; Connor leaning beside his brother, telling him all the good things that they did together. "The time we gave that apple to the Aphrodite girls, saying the prettiest? Or the Ares cabin when we…." His voice was trying hopeless along with his expression, but I could see him trying to stay strong for Travis. The only other thing I could see was a silver arrow covered in red liquid that glistened in the sunlight that flooded in. It was as if the room disappeared and it was just Connor, Travis, and I, and that stupid arrow and bed.

"Travis…" I whispered, rushing over to him after he coughed weakly.

"H-he-ey Iz." He choked and I grinned as best as I could.

"You stupid, stupid Hermes boy. Anything for that girl." I chided him quietly, as I knelt at his bedside.

"Anything." He coughed; he was getting worse. Ten minutes, Nico had said. It's been seven. I couldn't tell him that.

"What does it feel like?" I blurted after my ADHDness kicked in and that stupid question came out.

"It feels like you're just losing grip on something… Like monkey bars." He let out a chuckle that brought me back to so many good memories with him.

"Connor, remember… Keep pranking," cough, "for me… And keep up the Ares' Annoyance Club….." cough, "And Iz, don't f-f-org-get… You can d-do anything." Travis never spoke again.

Connor fell to his brother's side, sobbing, and I did the same. Soon enough, there was a flash of light, and a sandy haired man was behind us.

"Dad…" I croaked as I looked at him with puffy eyes.

"Travis Stoll, you were the smartest son…" He mumbled, walking towards the now lifeless body. He kissed the boy's forehead, muttering an incantation, a final goodbye.

That night, when we were putting my brother in his shroud, we found something in his hand that made me cry my eyes out. In his hand were three things:

_Tell Travis I love him. Tell him he was my everything and that he deserves the best girl there is. Tell him I'll be waiting for him in Elysium. Tell him he can't give up. Tell him that he needs to move on and that I'm gone. Tell him that he can be whatever he wants. Tell him that he can't forget the promise. Tell him this for me, please, Marie. Please. _

The second thing in his hand was a picture of Katie in her garden, overalls covered in dirt, her light brown hair blowing crazily in the wind, her dark brown eyes determined.

The last thing was the one that me really cry. In his hand was a sapling from a maple tree; Katie's favorite plant.


End file.
